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Influenza: Pandemic Flu
What is pandemic flu?
A
pandemic
is an
outbreak of a disease that happens in many different countries at the
same time. A pandemic of influenza, or flu, occurs when a new flu virus
rapidly spreads from country-to-country around the world. This rapid
spread of flu can happen because most people will not be immune to a
new flu virus, and it is possible that a vaccine against the virus will
not available until months after the new virus first appears. In
addition, people with flu who travel from country-to-country in
airplanes can be a source of infection, as occurred in the SARS (Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak in Asia and Canada in 2003.
Pandemics are not just particularly bad flu seasons. In fact, they are
not seasonal at all; they can happen anytime.
A flu pandemic may be caused by any
type of
emerging flu virus that is new to humans, including the avian (bird)
flu strain.
In
the 20th
century,
several flu pandemics occurred - the biggest one in 1918. During that
pandemic, at least 500,000 Americans died, and it has been estimated
that there were as many as 10 million deaths worldwide.
What
is the
difference between a pandemic and an epidemic?
An epidemic is an outbreak of disease that occurs
in
one or several limited areas, like a city, state or country. Once the
disease spreads beyond the borders of several countries, and affects
many countries across the globe, it is called a pandemic.
How
is pandemic flu
treated?
The
virus that would cause a pandemic
flu virus will have undergone such a dramatic change that current flu
vaccines will probably offer no protection and most, if not all people
may have no natural immunity. Once a pandemic flu virus appears, it
takes at
least six months to develop a vaccine that precisely matches the
composition of the new virus. This means that there is currently no
vaccine to protect against pandemic flu.
Scientists are now studying the current bird flu virus in Asia for
clues on future vaccine development.
Are
there other methods to
prevent a pandemic flu?
Antiviral medications, such as Tamiflu may offer protection to some
patients against pandemic flu. However, flu viruses can become
resistant to these drugs. The exact effectiveness of antiviral
medications will not be fully known until a pandemic virus is
circulating.
Good health habits can help protect against infection from all forms of
flu. Learn more on the Flu
Prevention
web page.
When will the next pandemic flu occur?
Influenza pandemics occur naturally, and are impossible to accurately
predict. However, scientists are monitoring the current bird flu
outbreak in Asia and Eastern Europe for changes in the virus that would
allow it to spread quickly among people.
What
can I do to prepare for pandemic flu?
It's
a good
idea to prepare for a pandemic much as you would for an earthquake,
flood or other disaster.
A pandemic is caused by a
strain of
virus that is new
– chances are, most, if not all
people would have little to no natural immunity and the virus would be highly
contagious, from person to person. Therefore, it
may be necessary to protect yourself and others from getting the virus
by remaining in your home for several days. Or, you may find yourself
staying home from work to care for sick children, or even working from
home. The Nevada State Health Division recommends taking the following
steps for personal preparedness:
-
Items for
personal comfort. You may
want to have extra items on hand to make your time at home more
comfortable, like food, water, soap, shampoo, toothpaste, toilet paper, cleaners and
activities for children.
-
Cash. Make
sure to have some cash on
hand. If necessary, you may be able to be have items delivered to your
door.
-
Pets. Don't
forget your pets. Make
sure you have enough food and water for them and other necessities like
extra litter.
-
Phone. If
there are disruptions to
power, you will need to have a phone that does not run on power from an
electrical outlet (a standard "wired" or "landline" phone). Cordless
phones will not operate when the power is out, however cellular phones
will.
-
Medications and
equipment. If you must
take medications on a regular basis, be sure to have enough of a supply
to last for several days.
-
Large trash
bags. Garbage service may
be disrupted or postponed for many days. Have bags on hand to store
garbage safely.
-
Prepare
ahead. Talk
to your friends
and family about emergency plans. Make sure you have a plan to check in
with elderly parents and friends, that children know who to contact in
an emergency and that you know your family's medical histories, social
security numbers and other basic information.
For more information on
personal
preparedness, please visit the Nevada State Health Division's Public Health Preparedness website.
The site
features tips and checklists to help you develop a household disaster
plan, pack an emergency preparedness kit, and much more. You can
also access the Red Cross preparedness website by clicking here.
What is the State of Nevada doing to prepare for a pandemic?
The Nevada State Health
Division,
working with local health districts and departments statewide, monitors
each flu season in several ways:
- We
ask
doctors and others who see patients to count the number of patients
they see each week with a flu-like illness.
- We
ask
nursing homes to let us know if their patients begin to get sick with
something that looks like flu.
- We
ask
doctors and laboratories to send samples to the Nevada State Public
Health Laboratory from patients with flu-like
illness so we can try to grow flu from the sample. This helps us to
know if the virus circulating in our state is the same strain that is
active in other parts of the United States, and whether or not that
year’s flu vaccine protects against the virus we have
identified.
-
We
follow
the trends in the number of people who die in Nevada's larger cities
from flu and pneumonia — a serious lung infection that can be
a
complication of flu.
Additionally,
the Nevada State Public Health Laboratories perform specialized testing
for flu and send samples of influenza to the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), where they use information from Nevada
and other states to determine what strains of flu should be covered in
each year’s flu vaccine.
All year long, we ask doctors to
report any
serious or fatal illness where they were unable to find a cause for the
illness, so we can do testing for flu. We
monitor updates from the CDC and the World Health Organization on
influenza vaccine developments and events related to flu, including the
outbreak of avian flu in Asia.
We work with
other state and local government
agencies and hospitals in Nevada and our neighbor states to develop
response plans specific to pandemic flu.
The Nevada Department of Agriculture would lead the response to any
cases of bird flu detected in Nevada poultry flocks, and would work
with their counterparts in the United States as necessary.
- For the past two years, the Department of Agriculture
has, and continues to run tests on samples associated with waterfowl,
migratory and shorebirds, and domestic poultry deaths. The
Department's Animal and Food Safety Laboratory has federal funding for
avian influenza tests, and is certified by the national Veterinary
Services Laboratory to run these tests.
- If a sample is found to be positive for
high-pathogenicity avian influenza, the sample is sent to the National
Veterinary Services Laboratory for confirmation within 24 hours.
- The initial response upon a preliminary positive in
domestic poultry will include immediate notification of the Governor's
office, the Division of Emergency Management, Nevada State Health
Division, and the USDA-Veterinary Services. Infected birds would
be purchased to limit spread of disease.
- Upon confirmation by the National Veterinary Service
Laboratory, a public information outreach program would be initiated by
partner state agencies and the USDA. The State Veterinarian, with
approval from the Governor, would ask the Secretary of Agriculture for
an extraordinary emergency declaration and a state/federal task force
would be convened.
- Education and outreach activities have been directed
to practicing veterinarians, feed stores, extension offices and local
health agencies for the past six months.
- The Department of Agriculture has been consulting
with state and federal wildlife agencies on safety procedures for
collecting migratory and shorebirds as well as waterfowl.
The Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) is
the state agency responsible for the management of the State's wildlife
resources as set forth in Nevada Law. NDOW works cooperatively
with the Nevada Department of Agriculture (NDOA) on matters of animal
health and disease.
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is
the federal agency responsible for the management of migratory birds
under several laws, including the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The
Service coordinates with states to manage populations of hunted game
birds and species utilized for subsistence as well as other migratory
birds that are not taken for sport or traditional sustenance.
Information about the Service's role in Highly Pathogenic Avian
Influenza (HPAI) can be examined at the following website:
www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/issues/AvianFlu/WBAvianFlu.htm
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) is the federal
multi-disciplinary science organization agency that monitors biology,
geography, geology, geospatial information and water. It is
dedicated to the timely, relevant, and impartial study of the
landscape, natural resources and the natural hazards that threaten the
country. It monitors HPAI through its National Wildlife Health
Center. Information about the USGS's role in HPAI can be examined
at the following website: www.nwhc.usgs.gov
The Interagency HPAI Working Group is comprised of USGS, Service, U.S.
Department of Agriculture and Alaska Department of Fish & Game
personnel drawn together to address the issue of HPAI occurrence in
North America. The initial phase will address early detection
activities in Alaska and in particular that state's coastal areas where
initial contact with HPAI-infected waterfowl stocks would most likely
occur. The second phase will address subsequent HPAI detection
activities in the four North American flyways.
NDOW's Work Plan:
Surveillance: Activities
to detect prevalence of HPAI among migratory waterfowl will fall under
the guidelines developed by the Working Group. NDOW actions in
the field will be coordinated with the Nevada Department of
Agriculture's State Veterinarian. If it is determined that a
coordinated surveillance effort is necessary, the NDOW's activities
will likely include the following:
- Random sampling: NDOW
personnel will establish checkpoints at strategic locations designed to
collect blood and/or tissue samples of hunter-harvested waterfowl.
- Sampling efficacy to be analyzed
- Sampling protocol to be determined
- Targeted sampling: NDOW
personnel will work with the Service to obtain samples through
scheduled field sampling efforts, sometimes concurrent with other
activities such as banding.
- Sampling efficacy to be analyzed
- Sampling protocol to be determined
- Continued general monitoring: NDOW
personnel will continue to monitor work and reports about HPAI through
Internet sources, mass and interest-specific media, and through
coordination within the Pacific Flyway Council and its association with
the Working Group.
For more information about NDOW's HPAI plan, please visit their website:
http://ndow.org
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Updated11.10.05
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